Jean elie richard



@initrd gime @anni @tithe ALetters Patent No. 93,835, dated August 1l', 1869.

APPARATUS FOR PRINTING PHTOGRAPHIC VIGNETTES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the sa'me.

To all/whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JEAN Emu RICHARD, of Golumbia, in the district of Richland, and State of South Carolina, have invented a new and improved Apparatus for Printing Vignettes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, 'and exact description of the construct-ion and operation ofthe' same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a front elevation;

Figures 2, 3, and 4, detached views of di'erent parts; v

Figure 5, a plan view of the box and stand; andv Figure 6 is a section, through line :v a; of fig. 1.

This invention has relation to printing large vignettesfrom the solar camera.

In order to print large vignettes, it is necessary that the prepared paper or blank shonldbe placed at a distance from the camera varying accordingto the diverging power of the lens and the sizeof thev picture required. And in order to form vignettes or pictures without a-deuite border, it is requisite that there should he, between the blank and the camera, a device for producing the peculiar shaded cloudiness that forms the background of vignettes, darkest at the outlines of the picture proper, and thence softened away into the natural color o t' the paper.

Such 'a device usually consists of a curtain oi' cloth or paper, painted black on the side toward the blank, with an opening through the centre for the transmission ofl the rays of light from the camera, and such a curtain ,Lemploy in my present apparatus.l

Theil, to produce the shading around the picture, the curtain has tohe moved to and fro, and up and down, in order to intercept the light, for a' portion of the time required to perform the' operation, from the outerA parts of the vignette.

There is at the present time appamtus'hr automatically producing such reciprocating motion in the case of contact printing, that is, printing upon paper applied closely to the negative; but so far as lain aware, the only method heretofore employed for givingthe required motion to a curtain placed at adistauce, both` from the negative and the paper, is-to place an operator holding the curtain in his hand at the proper point, and canse him to give the curtain the requisitemovemont as nearly as he can.

As the printing of a large-sized vignette occupiesfrom four to six' hours, and as this manual operation is verytedious, and often painful to the operator, as well asv expensive, it is obvious that' some means of automatically imparting the necessary motion to the curtain, in`the printing of large-sizdvignettes from the solar camera, is a desideiatum.

My invention consists in the provision of such means,

the same being the attachment of the curt: in, by adjustable levers, to clock-work, in such a manner that precisely the proper motion may be automatically imparted to the curtain, including the moving of the curtain both laterally and vertically at the same time, or only vertically', or more or less laterally, as may be required, the aperture in thc curtain being also provided with wings of various shapes for the purpose of giving such form to the shading as may be desired, and the whole apparatus being placed within a boxhaving tubes running through the sides, for the passage of the light, said box'being also provided with means for setting it at a greater or less altitude, at pleasure, from the stand,

in order to accommodate it to the height of the vcamera that may be used.

In the drawings- A is a curtain, of the kindbefore referred to, having an oval aperture, a, through it, and being set in an annular frame, a', placed just outside the mouth ofthe tube B, passed through the side. of' the box that is to be placed 'nextthe camera.. v

'lhe ring a is provided with sockets a, 85o., to hold the curtain, and a button, al, at the top.

At each side of the aperture are wings b1), pivoted at their upper ends, and used to close the aperture,

more or less, either on one or both sides, according as .it maybe wished to' throw more shading on one side than the V other of the picturc..

' The annular frame is suspended upon two pivots, c

c', the u'pper'one, c, of which proceeds from the end of a tongue, cl,-that' is pivoted at its other end to one vof the spokes of a wheel, c, as shown iu fig. 2.

Enclosing the tongue-c between itself` and the wheel, is a convex, plate, c".,-fastened to the wheel by means of buttons d d", so as to be easily detached, when necessary. The convex plate has a slot, d', in it, of a regular curved shape, through which passes the pivot c'.

The plate 6"" is capable of being moved upon its axis, which is also the axis ofthe wheel 0', and when thus movedl it changes the position ofA the pin c, thc upper pivot of the annular curtain-trame, with refcrence to the axis of the wheel c, moving it either t0- ward or away from said axis, and thus regulating the` .movement of the curtain A from side to side and up is the -uppcr pin'c, as it revolves about thc axis oi' thc softer in proportion as it is wider.

wheel c'". It is necessary, therefore, that the exact movement of the upper pivot should be imparted to the lower one.. This is accomplished by a system of levers ,e e', pvoted to the side of the box containing the whole apparatus, the upper lever e having a slot, c", made longitudinally of its lower half, and the lower lever c' having on its upper half a sliding stud, d,

which plays in the slot e', and connects the two levers.

The upper end of the lever e is joined with the upper pivot c by a connecting-rod, h, and the lower end of the lever e' is joined with the pivot c'by a connecting-rod, h', and thus, by the counter-action of the levers e e', the two pivots c and c' pass through the same lateral motionl at the same time, the two pivots moving, as it were, in parallel linsythe flower pivot being movable by reason of its being the' end of a long elastic pin.

' The lateral movements ofthe pivots being thus uniform, their upward ones must be so as a matter of course, and tue conditionsrcquisite for a uniform' shading are perceived to be attained. t

Then it is desired that the shading shall be narrow, the upper pnis to bc set as near the axis of the wheel c aspossible.

On the other-hand, if the shading is to bethe widest possible, the upper pivot must be placed at the extreme outer end of the curved slot d'. 'lhe shading will be A result often required is that the shading shall be laid on more at the upper part of the picture than the lower. rlhis is eil'ected by moving the connecting-stud c up in the Aslot c", which may be done by means of the spring :v and seriations on the 'side of the lever e.

1f it' be moved up so far as to be at the same altitude with the centre of motion of the lever c, it is plain that no movement at all will be imparted to the lever e', and that thepivotvc. will be stationary,'except as .to-'its vertical motion, and only the 'upper part of the curtain will receive any lateral play.

`The'connecting-stud may beset at any point from the centre of motion ofthe upper lever downward, according to the 'excess of shading to be given to the upper part of the picture.

Again`,' another requirement may be that the shading shall preponderate' in the lower part of the picture To bling about this e'ect the connecting-stud e is to be lowered in the slot e", and the further it is lowered beyond the centre ofthe slot, the more will the lateral movement of the lower part of the curtain be greater I than that of the upper part. i The least possible motion of the upper part, as .be-' fore stated, is brought about by moving the.pivot c to 'the inner end of the circular slot.

The weight of the annular frame and curtain, and half the. weight of the connecting-rods, might be sustained by the upper pivot c, and ultimately upon the axle of the wheel c' Y In that case it wouldbe neces- -sary that this weight be entirely removed. I therefore attach a pea, i, to one end of a scalebeam, k, pivoted in the upper right-hand corner of the box G.

A rod, 7J, connects the opposite end of -the scalebeam with theupperpart of the annular frame a.

The pea i is of equal weight with the load that would otherwise be sustained by tliepivot c, and it not only relieves the axle of the wheel c" of a considerable amount of friction, but it enables tbe system of clockwork, by means of which the wheel c is rotated, to impart to it a regular and uniform motion.

I design to attach hands and a dial to the clock-work, and thus combine in one instrument a printing-apparatus and a clock.

From a consideration of the manner in which the pivot c i's connectedv with the slotted plate c",`it is'obvious thatlhe pivot cannot move'ot' itself in the slot, inasmuch 'as the tongue` c prevents the 'pivot from moving llengthwise of the slot, and the sides of the latter prevent the pivot from moving sidewise.

'lhe box G, in which my apparatus is enclosed, is furnished', at its edges, with longitudinal guide-nays! l; 0r wththeir equivalents, grooves sunk in the edges, and the guide-ways enclose standards l', which 'project vertically upward i'om a platform, l", on which the box rests, between the standards.

lhe box may be set at any desired height in the standards, and, when raised to the proper elevation, it is to be iixed by means of spring-plates in, which are bent into prongs lm/-at their tops and bottoms, the upper prongs resting on the tops of the standards l', and the lower prongs in grooves m, of proper dimensions,

`made longitudinally of the standards on the inside.

. Recesss are made in thel inside of the standards for the reception of the spring-plates. WYhen the lower prongs of the latter rest on the bottoms of the grooves m, the curvature of the spxin gplates clamps the box'C in the standards.

lVhen the spring-plates are raised so that their lower ,prongs strike the tops of the grooves m", the curved part-s of the plates are out of the guide-ways, and the box may slide freely up and down.

This arrangement furnishes me with means for easily fixing the box at any required height in the standards to suit the camera, and also for readily changing its position.

The tubes B and D, passing through the front and'- back sides of the box, have slides l5 D', forclosing them, when not required for the transmission of light. The lower pivot-pin c'has a small transverse groove running round it, near its outer en d, so that there is a head on its extreme outer end, and a shoulder on the other side of the groove, and in the groove and between the head and shoulder, is supported the projection a of the annular frame a', in such a manner, that whatever the position the box may be placed in, the whole lower partl of the apparatus is sustained upon the pin.

Having thus described my invention,

What Iclaim'as new, and desire to secure by'Letters Patent, is-

1. The box C, for enclosing andprotecting the within -described apparatus, provided with tribes B and D, for the transmission of light, and with slides B D', as and foi-.the purpose set forth.

sliding' stud e'f and spring-platea, arranged and operati11g-substantially as described.

5. The combination ofthe levers c e', connectingrods h h', annular' trame af, all arranged and operating as explained.

6, 'lheannular frame a', provided with the sockets a and button al, substantially as described.

7. lhe combination of the curtain A with the wingsb,.as and for the purpose specified.

8.*lhe combination ol'v the scale-beam k, counterweiglit i, almulaitl'ame a, and connecting-rods h h', all arranged and operating substantially as described,

9. The spring-plate in, provided with the prongs m m', in combination with the grooved standard l and box C, as and for the purpose specitied.

JEAN lllilll RIGHA'lllL \\'i tn esses:

Otras. A. ln'r'rx'r, b'. C linnox. 

